Hainan: 428,000 new market entities from June 2020 to June 2021

“We are taking advantage of the zero-tariff policy to import yachts. Thanks to the development of Hainan Free Trade Port , we are very optimistic about the company’s future development, ”Lin Mingkun , the Managing Director of Hainan Falin International Yacht Co., LTD. told reporters.

Falin Yacht Company is far from the only company that is optimistic about the Hainan Free Trade Port. The China Tourism Group has set up four subsidiaries on the island. PADI, the world's largest diving service agency, has opened in Sanya and plans to set up its regional headquarters in Hainan, while KWS, a German seed company, has set up a subsidiary in Hainan to promote its seed business. The number of market entities in Hainan has grown rapidly since the Master Plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port was released in June of last year.

Photo by Hainan Daily

Data shows that Hainan added a total of 428,000 new market entities, an increase of 52.31% over the same period from June of 2020 to June 2021. About 200,000 new businesses were added, an increase of 136.73% over the same period. In the first half of 2021, the province's new market entities reached 191,000, an increase of 69.23% year-on-year.

De Beers, the world famous diamond and jewelry brand, has set up a subsidiary in Haikou to promote the De Beers Forevermark Hainan Free Trade Port operation center project, and has located its Asia-Pacific supply chain center in Hainan.” We were attracted by the convenient customs clearance facilities of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the import duty exemption policy for goods with a processing value of over 30% imported into the Chinese mainland,” Wu Feng, Vice President of Business Transformation & Operation of De Beers ForeverMark, said that in the future, De Beers will open diamond jewelry processing and manufacturing facilities in Hainan, and the finished products will be supplied to the whole Asia-Pacific region.

Statistics also show that 979 new foreign-invested companies were established in Hainan province in the first half of 2021, an increase of 384.65% year-on-year. The number of newly established foreign-invested businesses opened in the first half of 2021 is close to the total number opened in the entire last year, which was 1,005.

Since the beginning of 2021, a number of policies and measures on foreign investment in Hainan have been introduced to encourage businesses to participate in the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port in various fields. One of these, a negative list (2020 version) on foreign investment in the Hainan Free Trade Port, took effect on February 1, 2021, with only 27 restrictions remaining, and another negative list (2021 version) on cross-border trade in services in the Hainan Free Trade Port, was released on July 26, marking China's first negative list for the cross-border services trade.

In addition, on June 10 China passed the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) law. Companies are attracted not only by Hainan’s trade and investment facilitation policies, but also the Hainan Free Trade Port's increasingly favorable business environment. At present, Hainan is working to facilitate business-related services such as "single-counter", "simplified approval" and "one-seal approval" for international trade. Recently, Hainan launched a platform to handle business environment issues, allowing corporations to report the problems they run up against through a variety of online channels.